US education secretary touts school diversity efforts

Michael Melia Associated Press

Published 6:40 pm, Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Photo: AP Photo — Susan Walsh, File

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Now-Education Secretary John King Jr. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The importance and benefits of diversity is a theme Secretary John King Jr. has been discussing around the United States since he took office earlier this year. less

Now-Education Secretary John King Jr. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The importance and benefits of diversity is a theme Secretary John King Jr. has been discussing around the United States since he ... more

Photo: AP Photo — Susan Walsh, File

US education secretary touts school diversity efforts

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HARTFORD >> A network of magnet schools in Connecticut can serve as a model for achieving the kind of diversity that is lacking in too many American schools, U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said Wednesday.

King spoke at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy, one of the schools that enroll students from Hartford and its suburbs under a court-ordered desegregation agreement, known as Sheff v. O’Neill. He said it is an example of a community standing up for diversity that produces better outcomes for all students.

“We’re not here to say that victory has been achieved but rather there are promising results from the efforts around diversity here,” King told reporters. “We’ve got to build on that momentum.”

King has stressed the importance of diversity since taking office earlier this year, and a bill pending in Congress would provide $120 million to support local efforts such as creating public school choice zones, expanding bussing service and developing programs to attract students from outside local areas.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat who last month introduced the Stronger Together School Diversity Act of 2016, said at the discussion Wednesday that it would help districts do a better job serving disadvantaged students.

A report released in May by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found deepening segregation of black and Hispanic students at high-poverty, K-12 public schools. These schools also had disproportionally higher rates of students who were held back in ninth grade, suspended or expelled.

While Hartford’s award-winning magnet schools have been widely celebrated for their success, many students in Connecticut’s capital continue to attend neighborhood schools that are isolated racially and socioeconomically. The district’s superintendent has described it as “a tale of two cities,” with a divide between those whose number is called for enrollment at their preferred schools and the rest making do with limited options.

Elizabeth Horton Sheff, a civil rights activist whose son was the lead plaintiff in the 1989 lawsuit challenging segregation in Hartford, said Wednesday there have been setbacks and acknowledged frustrations among parents whose children don’t get into the schools they want. But she said it was no time stop seeking innovative solutions.

“This is a justice question, Secretary King, it is a justice question,” she said. “This is an issue that resonates to the depth of our nation.”